Two weeks later

Outside, the surf pounded. Inside, the recovery room was quiet.

His skin throbbed where he held the dragon shifter’s hand. All the heat from his body was concentrated in their intertwined fingers. Was she feeding from his life force?

Eve had been brought in after the encounter with the Elysian and had stayed in a coma since.

Her eyelashes fanned out against the brown of her skin. High cheekbones sloped down to the arc of a throat that called out for his touch.

The scent of lilies and wildfire teased him.

Cain very much wanted to sniff the hollow at the base of her throat. Wanted to lick that lower lip, which jutted out as she slept.

Liquid heat tugged his groin. His lion stretched and rubbed up against his skin, wanting to get closer to her.

She was unconscious, and all he could think of was how delectable she was. He should go before his lion did something he would regret.

Dropping her hand, he jumped up and strode to the exit.

A sound made him pause. He spun back to face her.

The air shimmered on the other side of the prone dragon shifter.

The particles grew transparent and resolved into the body of a man.

The metallic stench of bitter almonds had his lion snarling.

Elysian.

He recognized the stink of the psychic collective race that threatened the Council. They’d hurt Eve and left her fighting for her life.

With a roar, Cain sprang over the bed and hurled himself at the stranger.

They crashed into the window. Breaking through the glass, they went over the side.

Cain’s shifter muscles corrected the course of his body. He hit the ground two floors below, feet first, his hands around the neck of the Elysian male.

The man struggled and kicked out, connecting with Cain’s thigh.

Cain grunted, but his grip didn’t loosen. “What do you want?” Hauling the man up, Cain shook him.

The man’s frozen features didn’t change.

An oily and thick presence brushed Cain’s psychic senses. His lion growled.

This man would have kidnapped Eve, or worse, killed her if Cain hadn’t intercepted him.

Baring his teeth, Cain snarled and flung the man across the garden.

The Elysian’s body collided with a palm tree. The force snapped the tree trunk, and the man fell to the ground. Rolling over, he bounded back to his feet.

His movements hinted at a flexibility that Cain hadn’t anticipated.

The stranger raised his hand.

A hum crowded Cain’s psychic shield.

Adrenaline pulsed. Cain pushed back against the ground and jumped through the air. One leap and another, then he was on the man. His fingers changed to claws.

Gripping the Elysian’s head between his massive paws, he squeezed. His lion wanted to crush the life out of the man who’d tried to hurt Eve.

A groan tore out of the Elysian’s throat. His body shook.

The next moment, Cain’s paws slapped each other as the man teleported away. The pressure on Cain’s brain vanished.

Nostrils flaring, sweat running down his back, Cain shook himself to be rid of the stink of the Elysian’s presence.

Vance, the doctor who’d tended to Eve since she’d been brought in, slid to a halt next to him. “What was that?” The vampire’s Russian heritage was evident in his accent.

Withdrawing his claws, Cain shifted to full human form. “Elysian man teleported in. He was here for Eve.” He raised his head to the broken window.

Vance followed the direction of his gaze. “How do you know he didn’t teleport back in to Eve’s room?”

“Putain.” Swearing in the language of his mother’s land, Cain ran for the entrance of the infirmary.

Vance was at his heels.

Taking the steps two at a time, he reached the second floor. His lion paced and pushed him to run faster.

Pulse beating, heart pounding, his mouth was dry by the time he reached her room. Bursting in, he skidded to a halt.

“I leave you for an hour and you reduce the room to this.” Vance stabbed a finger at the broken pane.

Cain didn’t bother to reply. His gaze was on the sleeping figure.

Her features were pale. She was so still.

His heart stuttered, his pulse drummed in his ears, and darkness clawed at the edge of his vision.

“Breathe.” Vance slapped his back.

Air rushed into Cain’s lungs, the burst of oxygen making the world spin around him.

“She’s alive. Eve’s fine, the Elysian didn’t hurt her.” Vance gripped his shoulder.

Cain planted his feet on the floor. His blood still pounded in his temples. She looks so weak. What if she doesn’t recover? His lion paced.

“Her body is healed, thanks to her shifter genes.” Vance slid around Cain to stand in front of him. “She’ll wake when she’s ready.”

“Yeah, okay.” Cain rubbed the back of his neck. His throat was dry.

Why was his lion so drawn to this woman?

Striding to the chair, he dropped into it. His lion insisted that he should be the first person she saw when she opened her eyes.

“How long do you plan on staying without a break this time?” Pausing by the bed, Vance picked up Eve’s wrist and felt her pulse.

“As long as it takes.” Cain’s lion prowled, restless at the nearness of another man to his dragon shifter.

His dragon? Where had that thought come from?

Besides, it made no sense to think of Vance as a threat. He was a brilliant surgeon. The best qualified to take care of her. It wouldn’t do to tear out his throat just because he stood so close to her. Why was his cat behaving like an obsessed, selfish animal?

“I could relieve you and watch over her—”

A growl rumbled up from Cain’s throat.

“So, like that, eh?” Vance placed the wrist of the sleeping woman against her side.

Cain refused to meet the vampire’s piercing gaze.

Vance retreated to the door. “You’ve barely left this room since she was brought in.”

Cain thrust his jaw out. “Only I can keep her safe.”

There was silence from the doorway.

“What?” Cain glared at the other man.

“You got it bad, big guy.” Vance kept his arms loose at his sides.

Cain’s forehead furrowed. “What’re you talking about?”

The vampire propped himself against the door frame. “How long have you kept vigil by her side?”

Cain rubbed the back of his neck. “A week?”

“It’s been two.”

Cain didn’t answer. He resented Vance’s intrusion.

“What’s the longest you’ve been away from her?” Vance crossed his legs.

Every time Cain had forced himself to leave, his lion had insisted he come running right back to this woman. “I did let Hope take over and go for a run on the beach,” he muttered.

“That was what, three days ago? The rest of the time you’ve been here watching over her.”

Cain wasn’t the sentimental type.

As a dominant lion shifter who’d lost every member of his pride, except Serena, his sister, he’d reconciled himself to being alone.

He still didn’t know who’d killed his pride family. The thirst for revenge simmered deep. But Serena came first.

The mayor had offered him and Serena a home when they’d most needed it. It was the only reason he was a Guardian of the Council.

He knew the doc was looking out for him. He’d have done the same if Vance had been acting so irrational over a woman, too.

“You’re setting yourself up for a fall, bro.” Frustration sharpened the vampire’s accent. “Perhaps you should wait until she wakes up?”

A part of him recognized the truth in Vance’s words. “Think I don’t know that?” Cain placed his elbows on his knees.

Letting his head hang, he rubbed the back of his neck. If only he could tear himself away from here.

He should have never entered the room of this dragon shifter. Cain slammed his fist into his palm.

“Take it easy.” Vance stood next to him.

The hair on Cain’s nape sprang up, and he was on his feet, hands balled into fists. “I forget that you move as silent as a cat.”

Vance gripped his shoulder. “What if her dragon rejects you?”

Cain flinched. He’d avoided asking himself that very question all that time.

Vance had nailed his deepest fear.

“I’ll take that risk.” Cain planted his feet apart.

“You stubborn bastard.” Vance stepped back. His hand dropped to his side. “But if your lion has found his mate, then you must stay and pursue what is yours.”

“What mate? It’s just my duty as a Guardian to make sure she’s safe, and—” Cain’s throat closed.

Realization sank in. His nerves strummed. Was Vance speaking the truth?

No, it couldn’t be true.

He was going insane. That must be the explanation. Or the fact that so many on the Council had found their mates.

It was why his lion was behaving in such an uncontrollable manner.

This woman had raised his protective instincts.

He was going to watch over her until she woke up, and then leave.